Big butts were everywhere in 2014, so of course, that's what Millennials wanted in their porn. But there's a new, surprising porn trend in 2015 that has less to do with Nicki Minaj and more to do with Spongebop Squarepants. Yes, Millennials are getting really into cartoon porn. That's not to say that every millennial other than you is going home every night to browse their huge cache of Doug porn (although, some people probably are, no judgment). But according to data from PornHub, Millennials now watch hentai, the Japanese term for cartoon erotica, 144 percent more than our parents did. (Sorry for the mental image.)
So why is it that we're apparently way more chill with masturbating to cartoons than any other generation? "The erotic illusions possible are freed from all the normal constraints of reality," says Dr. Leon F. Seltzer a psychologist who has studied the trend. " [It] can heighten the illusion that our libido has now landed in the most idyllic place possible." Fringe-fetishes that would be impossible or dangerous in the real world suddenly have an outlet. Certain types of hentai can involve things like women abruptly sprouting penises, animals (or anthropomorphic animals), rape, incest, and sex acts conducted by or with underage participants. (The PROTECT act, which centers on preventing child abuse, doesn't consider illustrations of fictional characters child pornography.) That's not to lump all those descriptors into a single category, but what they do have in common is the fact that illustrations allow them to experience these desires in a way they couldn't otherwise. "More often than not, the people who are into cartoon erotica are into it because real porn is 'boring' or it does not pander to their specific tastes," explains an artist who goes by DOXOlove and actively takes commissions within the hentai community. "Many will say since the subjects are not 'real people,' there are no boundaries to what goes on and your only limitation is your own imagination."
"It's simply upping the ante on novelty," agrees New York City sex therapist Stephen Snyder, M.D., pointing out that Millennials are getting jaded to plain, man-penetrating-woman porn and are seeking out kinkier options. "These days, seeing a video of a couple getting it on might not be as exciting," Snyder says, "so you've got further exaggerations and further amplifications of things. It's the erotic equivalent of a cronut. It doesn't exist in nature." So instead, people are leveraging their imaginations and technology to push to the limits of the erotic frontier. And, just like cronuts, they are designed on maximizing the best parts of everything they consist of.
But cartoon erotica isn't just about impossible situations. It's also about impossible bodies. Hentai and cartoons allow for women with insanely dramatic proportions and men that are so well-endowed they would never be able to function in real life. They're what Synder refers to as "ultra-intense perfect Barbie-dolls" — a hypersexualized version of the ideal male or female. In a cultural moment when the Internet is obsessed with Human Barbie and Kim Kardashian's butt is breaking things — not to mention "big dick" and "big ass" still being among the most popularporn search terms for Millennials — it's not surprising that we have to turn to animation to find the crazy-extreme bodies we fantasize about.
And of course — because if there's one thing this generation loves more than asses, it's nostalgia — a lot of cartoon porn pulls from characters that were popular when Millennials were kids. "The amount of porn from '90s nostalgia hands-down trumps any other genre in volume," says DOXOlove. And in the wake of Fifty Shades of Grey and After (sexually charged fan fiction based on Twilight and One Direction, respectively), which have both gone on to sell millions of copies and be adapted into movies, Millennials have gotten hot for their childhood and teen obsessions. Some of the most popular childhood characters to put in sexual situations: Superman and Wonder Woman, Doug, the Mario Brothers, and even Harry Potter. It's one part nostalgia, and one part people growing-up cartoons they may have been fond of before their hormones went nuts.
Snyder says porn trends like this cartoon porn boom can also feed themselves, because people might not know they're into something until they run across it online. "Fifty years ago, you never saw anything like this," he says, "but these days you see a lot of it and people really get hooked into it. Again, it's like cronuts: You taste the cronut and then you just want cronuts."
So maybe you are that friend who is really into this stuff. You'd be surprised just how many other people are probably just as into it as you. Maybe it's your partner. Or maybe you stumbled onto some Family Guy porn once and felt really weird about it afterward. It's fine. It's just another case of Millennials getting weird on the Internet. Or, you know, basically lining up to get sex cronuts.
Follow Frank on Twitter.
